It was the largest wholesale dismissal of unrelated marijuana charges in the province since judges
started tossing out cases of possession under 30 grams.

Mondays are drug-offence days in Windsor remand court, which hears pleas and sets trial dates.

But because several lawyers planned to argue that their clients' cases should be dropped, which is
normally beyond the purview of remand court, Rawlins agreed to hear them.

Defence lawyer Brian McAllister -- who started the trend in January when he convinced Ontario Court
Justice Douglas Phillip to dismiss marijuana-possession charges against his 17-year-old client -- made
the initial argument Monday on behalf of another client.

He argued that since Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin two weeks ago upheld the lower court ruling,
possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana is no longer illegal in Ontario.

The Crown tried to have the cases stayed until a new marijuana law can be implemented in Ontario, but
Rawlins agreed that possession under 30 grams is no longer illegal.

In about 90 minutes, Rawlins rushed through case after case, repeatedly reading a statement which said
that the cases are "lacking an allegation of any offence known to law."

In some cases, the accused had their marijuana-possession charges dismissed, but still face other types
of charges. Most simply walked free.

"I've never seen a parade of people walking out of court with such big smiles on their faces like that
before," said McAllister. "This is exactly what should happen. There's no prohibition on simple
possession of marijuana in Ontario and therefore no offence."

McAllister predicted marijuana-possession charges will be dismissed en masse until a new law is enacted.

"If a person is caught with, say, two joints, I don't think it's fair to get a criminal record," said one
smiling man who walked free Monday.

Jim Leising, director of federal prosecutions in Ontario for the Department of Justice, confirmed
Monday's proceedings were the first time marijuana-possession charges have been dismissed in bulk
and said his office is working quickly to have a new drug law implemented.

"What's been happening elsewhere is the charges have either been adjourned or stayed,"he said. "This
is the first I've heard they're just dismissed outright.